The Meaning of a Name
by nicole813711
Summary: Takes place years after the events of the movie. Danny has grown up and has had a kid. He's never forgotten about Jack and, as a result, has named his son Jack Slater Madigan in honor of his idol and hero. But, when assigned a school project, Jack starts to get curious about his name and the man he was named after.
1. The Assignment

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

"Madigan... Mr. Madigan... Jack!" A shrill voice called out across the classroom. It's owner stood at the front of the room, watching one sandy haired boy in particular. She sighed exasperatedly as the boy's head fell forwards, smacking off the desk. He sat up straight, looking to the front of the room while the other kids laughed. Shaking her head, the teacher repeated her question. "Jack, were you listening to a word I just said?"

Jack's cheeks burned with embarrassment as he ducked his head into the sleeves of his oversized jacket. His long sandy bangs fell into his eyes as he shifted uncomfortably. "No ma'am," he said quietly. His teacher rolled her eyes, expecting this sort of answer. After all, Jack spent more time daydreaming with his head caught up in fantasies and movies than in the real world.

"As I was saying, Mr. Madigan..." She started, shooting Jack a pointed look. He had the decency to flush once more at this reminder of his behavior. "I want each of you to go home today and find the meanings of your names. Bonus if anyone has an interesting story as to why you were named as you are." The bell rang then, and the students leapt from their desk, eager to leave the building. "Mr. Madigan, please stay after class."

The other students snickered as they began to file out of the room, eager to get home after a long day of school. Jack sighed and grabbed his bag, slowly moving to the front of the room. When he reached the front of the room, he stopped on front of the teacher's desk, shuffling slightly. He scuffed his shoe off the ground, too embarrassed to meet his teacher's eye.

"Jack," she began before stopping, unsure of where to truly begin. "What's going on? This is the fourth time you've fallen asleep in class this week and it's only Tuesday!" She told him exasperatedly. True, Jack did have a tendency to daydream, but never outright sleep."Your grade on yesterday's test was dismal. What's wrong Jack?" She asked finally,

"I'm sorry ma'am. I just... I haven't been getting a ton of sleep lately. I promise I'll do better," Jack said earnestly. The teacher studied him for a moment before sighing.

"Is this about your mother, Jack?" The teacher asked, getting straight to the point. Jack looked away, cheeks flaming, and she knew she had hit the mark. She didn't continue or press the subject since the death of Jack's mother was still sensitive to him- only having happened earlier this year.

"I won't say anything to your father..." The teacher began, and Jack looked relieved. His father was under enough stress as it was! He didn't need Jack to add to if! "As long as you make sure to complete tonight's assignment Jack. Make sure you find the meanings for all your names. And if you have an interesting story, be sure to bring it in."

"T-thank you ma'am!" Jack cried earnestly, grinning. "I won't disappoint you!" He cried as he grabbed his bag and fled from the room. He ran out of the school building and into the city streets, eager to get home and make up for his slack as of late.

**A/N: So, this is an idea I got from watching the movie Last Action Hero last night. Basically, this is years later when Danny has his own son and names him after Jack Slater, his idol. This will be a short story that will be split up into three, maybe four chapters. If you read this, please review. I doubt there's much of a fan base for this movie to begin with so please let me know what you think about it!**


	2. The Discovery

"Dad!" Jack called, entering the kitchen. It was later that day and Jack had already started working on his mini project. He discovered that his first name meant "God is gracious" and that his middle name, Slater, meant "maker of slates". His surname meant "descendant of Madigan" or "little dog". Now, the only thing left was to discover why his father had named him as such. Besides, Slater was typically a surname, so why was it his middle name?

"Jack?" His father asked, looking up as Jack entered the room. His name was Daniel "Danny" Madigan. He sat at the table in silence as Jack plopped into the seat across from him. "What's going on, buddy?" He asked, watching Jack pull out his notebook and set it on the table

"Hey Dad. We're doing this project at school. We have to find the meanings of our names, which I did. But, we get bonus points if we have a story of why we were given our names. I was wondering if you could help me out with this," Jack spoke quickly, looking a little excited.

Danny smiled slightly at Jack's excitement. He loved his boy, more than anything, but he sighed thinking of his old idol. The famous action hero character, Jack Slater, was the man Jack was named after. And, perhaps it was a result of his own changes, but Jack even acted like his namesake. Danny could only assume that Danny acted like him on occasion, and His son simply followed his actions.

"Your name, eh? You want to know where we got your name from?" Danny asked playfully, smirking. "I named you after an old friend of mine. I knew him back in the nineties. It's where you get both your names from; Jack Slater," Danny told his son, thinking back on the events on that fateful day he was thrown into a new world and met his idol Jack Slater.

After that day with Jack, after meeting his idol, everything changed. He was changed from those events. From then on, he couldn't bear to see any of the three following sequels. When the fourth movie came out, he didn't go to see it. Everyone who knew him was shocked, wondering how it was possibly that Danny Madigan had lost interest in Jack Slater.

Danny hadn't lost interest though. Oh no, quite the opposite. The minute it came out on VCR, Danny bought a copy of the movie, Jack Slater IV. Everyday since, he would set the movie to the end, and he would sit in front of the TV. He would hold his magic ticket tight, watching as Jack Slater drives off into the sunset. He would touch the TV each time, only to be disappointed in finding that the ticket didn't work.

After a long time, Danny gave up. He couldn't bear the constant disappointment anymore. And so, after a year of trying daily, he gave up. Every once in a while, he would take out the old videos locked in his bedroom, and he would try it. It only happened every once in a while when a new Schwarzenegger movie came out or something of the sort. He did it when he got his first break out of acne. He did it when he shaved for the first time. He did it when his... Body started to change. He did it when he got his first girlfriend, when he married. He did it when he divorced his first wife, and again when he married Jack's mother. He even did it after she died, sobbing, and desperately wanting to tell Jack that he never prepared him for death.

It never worked

"Dad?" Jack asked, pulling Danny from his thoughts. "Are you alright?" Danny simply nodded in reply, still lost in thoughts of the past. "I was wondering if you could tell me about him?"

"I only met him once, but he was the best friend- the best father figure I ever had. I can't talk anymore about him," Danny replied. With that, he grabbed his jacket and left the appartment, briefly stopping to tell Jack that he was leaving for his shift at the police station.

Jack watched his father go, sitting at the kitchen table. He frowned, wondering what his father was hiding, but at least he had a start. He knew where to start looking: into this Jack Slater character.

With that, he quickly moved to his father's bedroom and started looking around. He had a while to look, he knew that. His father wouldn't be off from his shift until much later tonight. Keeping that thought in mind, Jack began to search his father's room.

It took him nearly an hour before he found anything useful. He had searched the tv stand, the night table, under the bed, under the mattress. He had searched on the selves, at the top of the closet, his coat pockets, and the floor of the closet. Hell, he had even checked his father's sock and underwear draw!

With a disheartened sigh, Jack flung himself into the rug on his father's floor. Upon hitting the floor, he heard an odd crunch and squeak. He felt the floor buckle underneath him. Scared, he scrambled to his feet, looking down at the rug. He hesitantly pulled back the rug to see a couple of floor boards buckling.

Curious, and wondering if he broke it, Jack ran to get a crow bar. He set to work on pulling the boards up and, not long there after, had succeeded. To his surprise, and delight, he found a key underneath. He lifted the key, twisting it in his hands, as he replaced the floor boards. The twelve year old boy left the room, sure that he knew what the key was to.

He hurried into the living room, looking down at the locked box under the TV stand. He had always thought it was just for decoration, but now he thought he knew better. Lifting the box, he inserted the key and twisted. To his delight, the key unlocked the box, and the lid popped open. What he found, however, confused him even more.

Inside was a box if old tapes for a VCR. Jack, a kid living in the world of DVD, only knew this since his father still had a VCR and his old tapes. Pulling the tapes out, Jack saw that they were action movies, the title being 'Jack Slater'. He frowned at the four movies he found inside. He grew suspicious, wondering what this was all about. There was no way his father would name him after a fictional character... Or would he?

Jack sat in silence for a few minutes before he flicked in the VCR and the tv. He pulled out the movie on top, labelled 'Jack Slater IV'. He looked underneath it to see 'Jack Slater' and he was tempted to put that one in first. But something drew him to this one. Something about the fourth movie called to him.

To his surprise, he saw Arnold Schwarzenegger staring back at him from the cover. He grew excited to watch the old star's movie since he was one of his favorite actors. He shrugged as he opened the case, something fluttering out. He tried to catch the slip of paper, but it eluded him, landing graceful under the stand.

Shaking his head, Jack put the tape in, pressing play. He bent over under the TV set as the screen shuttered before bringing to life the scene of Slater exiting the police station. Jack stretched, trying to reach the piece of paper as Slater got into his car, preparing to drive off.

"Just a bit more," Jack mumbled as he finally stretched far enough, grasping the slip of paper. The paper crackled with blue electricity, the TV set ripping open at the seams as the portal into the movie was opened. Jack, whom had been bracing himself against the stand to reach the paper, fell forwards through the hole as Slater began to drive off into the sunset.

**A/N: This is the second part of this story. I have one, maybe two more parts left to write. Again, if anyone reads this, please let me know what you think and review. Thank you!**


	3. Jack Slater and Jack Slater?

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Slater drove off into the sunset, feeling a little put out. He would miss Danny dearly. As crazy as he had seemed, he had been right and their adventure had been fun. Since Andrew, Danny was the closest to being a son as Slater would get, and he couldn't help but wonder if Danny would ever come back and visit, entering the movie at this point in time.

At that moment, the car shuddered as an added weight fell into the car. Bewildered, Slater barely managed to keep control of the car, startled as he was. Looking over the back seat, he saw a mess of long sandy hair, wearing an oversized jacket and plaid shirt. Excited and grinning, he quickly pulled over to the side of the road, glad to see Danny again.

Jack, on the other hand, sat up carefully, confused and head hurting. He groaned as he opened his eyes to see he was in a convertible, an orange setting sun glowing along the horizon. Bewildered, he looked around wildly, his eyes falling on a grinning Schwarzenegger, staring at him. Jack jumped slightly, startled by his appearance, and looked around wildly. How had he gotten here?

"Danny!" Slater cried excitedly, the grin a seemingly permanent fixture to his face. Jack looked around, confused, before realizing that the Schwarzenegger look-alike was talking to him.

"Who? Me? My name's not Danny," Jack replied, confusion fixed on his features. Slater frowned at this, his grin falling from his face, as he studied the boy. He could've sworn the boy was Danny but, upon closer inspection, he was right. As similar to Danny as this boy may be, his eye and hair color was slightly off- just slightly- and his hair was a little shorter.

Jack stood carefully and jumped from the car, backing away from the man slightly. He had no idea why the man had called him Danny, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to stick around to find out. However, the man was already addressing him again. "If you're not Danny, then what's your name?"

"Jack," Jack told him hesitantly. He then stuck out his hand and continued, "Jack Slater Madigan." Slater took his hand, shaking it tentatively in shock. Was it possible that this boy was related to Danny?

"Are you related to a Danny Madigan, by any chance?" Slater asked, wanting to know the truth. Jack frowned at this, wondering how the man knew his father.

"Yeah. He's my dad. How do you know him? Who are you, and how did I get here? I was just at home watching a movie," Jack started rambling nervously. A thousand questions were flying through his mind while Slater had the answers zipping through his. He glanced down at the boy- Danny's SON- to see that he was indeed holding the ticket. He smiled at the irony of Danny's son visiting him the same way Danny had once. The ironic part being that it was now HIS turn to explain to his son.

"I'm Jack Slater. I was a friend of your dad's. We go way back to when he was your age. And believe me when I say that it'll take a bit of an imagination to believe how you ended up here," Slater told him, the grin once more lighting his face. Jack, on the other hand, was a whirlwind of confusion.

"Jack Slater? No, no, no, no, no. This can't be real. You're the guy my dad named me after? But- you're not real! You're, you're a character in a movie!" Jack exclaimed, jumping back. How was this possible? How was this real? It wasn't! It couldn't be!

"Well, I'm not positive but I do believe I'm the guy your dad named you after. I'm honored in fact. Danny was like a son to me and came along right when we needed each other most," Slater told him. Jack froze at this, knowing deep down that THIS WAS the man his father named him after. "And I know. I know I'm a character in a movie and that this must be very confusing for you," Slater continued as he bent down next to Jack, taking the ticket. "But, this- this ticket here- is magic. I know, it sounds crazy, but believe me, it's true."

"Prove it," Jack said doubtfully. His mind wouldn't let him believe it but deep down a part of him knew this man- this Jack Slater that he was named after- wasn't lying.

"You're here, aren't you?" Slater reasoned. "You're in Los Angeles, all of a sudden. You're from New York City, am I right?" Slater prompted, to which Jack's doubts began to assuage. He nodded and with that nod, began to believe Slater. "I look like an actor from your world- Arnold Schwarzenegger. In fact, I could be his twin. Am I right?" He asked again.

"Yeah. But, how?" Jack asked, clinging to his last shred of sanity.

"This ticket is magic. It has a mind of it's own. It brought Danny and I together once, and now it's brought you to me," Slater explained. "Once it brought Danny, when he needed a father figure- an idol- and I needed a son. Now, if I had to bet my money on it, you need something or were wondering something. Am I right?"

"Yeah," Jack replied with a nod, still shy. "I wanted to know more about who I was named after. It started as a school project but- I wanted to know," Jack explained. Slater's mouth curled up into a smirk. He knew he had hit the nail on the head with that one.

"Well, how about I tell you all about how I met your father?" Slater asked. Jack grinned as they both got back in the car, headed for his Appartment. Jack hopped over the side and into the car, not using the door much as Danny had. "Well, it all started a few days ago, for me, but what I'm sure was nearly thirty years ago, maybe twenty five, for your father. He found his way into this world much the same as you had. He fell into the back of my car! In a shootout no less with explosives flying!" Slater told him as Jack laughed merrily, the pair continuing on as Slater regaled him with the adventure his father had shared with the man.

**A/N: For now, this is where I will end this story. I know that I completely disappeared, but I had hit a dead end inspiration wise and had stopped writing for a while. I'm back now, and I'm trying to touch up old cuts. I may, in the future, write another part. For anyone wishing for one last part, leave me a review or PM me and give me ideas of what the fourth and final part should include. I considered a scene with Danny and Jack meeting again, though I'm uncertain.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm sorry I never posted this last chapter before I disappeared!**


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